The Texas Standard, Volume 37, Number 2, March-April 1963 Page: 4
19 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Ctnptif Spats
by
DR J. B. JONES
a*4 Jtik^ull £ea*
All scientific evidence points to the
fact that life is proceeding from unity
toward diversity, from the homogen-
eous unthinking herd or flock, blindly
moving in response to the directions
of a shepherd, toward a fellowship of
free and enlightened individuals, each
an integrated independent conscious
being in his own right. Freedom is
the by-word of the century from the
hinterlands of Africa to the gates of
Ole Miss.
Freedom of any kind brings with it
responsibility. It is no longer possible
for an enlightened individual to be
content to just drift with the herd, by
his very unfoldment it is necessary for
him to find out where he is going and
why he is going there, then consider
the means to be employed in aiding
him on the journey.
As administrators we are sailing our
educational boats in intellectual waters.
Have you seen the fisherman who has
the last make of rod and reel, flies and
baits of all description, yet he never
returns with a sizeable haul? In fact,
if his wife desires a tasty dish of fish,
her best bet is to make a hasty trip
to the nearest market.
You and I are the fishermen who are
sailing our boats in filled seas. There are
more than two and a quarter million
students enrolled in the first twelve
grades in the State of Texas. Of this
number approximately three hundred
thousand are Negro students or one
out of every seven. We have more than
sixty thousand students in high schools,
and some 240,000 Negro pupils in ele-
mentary schools. We graduated ap-
proximately eleven thousand from high
school last year, with slightly more than
fifty percent of these boys. Approxi-
mately forty-eight percent of these
Dr. James B. Jones, Associate Dean of Stu-
dents, Texas Southern University, Houston, spoke
to teachers and administrators in the Houston-
Harris County area during the Harris County
Principals Workshop.
planned to attend college as of their
graduation date and nearly forty per-
cent arrived at somebody's college cam-
pus last September. The old adage says
that figures don't lie. Legally they
don't, not even in this instance, for
they care not how they are interpreted;
thus the intent to deceive is not present
inherently. They are misleading. For
in spite of the solace they may bring,
we are rowing empty boats in fishfull
educational seas. Empty Boats and Fish-
full Seas, is my topic for the moment.
Empty boats? Yes, for our gradu-
ation rate represents less than one-third
of those entering first grade. Of those
students currently in the 7th grade we
will lose more than half in the drop-
out rate if our past is any indication
of the future; 1725 youth of Harris
County fell victims to delinquency dur-
ing the 1961 calendar year. One out of
every three entering college freshmen
at Texas Southern University is reading
below the 8th grade level. Morehouse
College of Atlanta likes to pride itself
on being composed of the intellectual
aristocracy in the South, yet it must
admit the existence of a remedial read-
ing program designed to bring many
to the 10th grade level in reading speed
and comprehension.
As administrators, I ask you, Why?
It cannot be the formal learning of our
teachers, for we have 2,500 Negro ele-
mentary teachers with the Master's de-
gre and above in the State of Texas,
and 4,000 hold the Bachelor's degree
with additional training. Only thirteen
Negro elementary teachers in the State
of Texas are non-degree holders. In the
departmentalized areas of the high
schools we are faring even better.
It cannot be the buildings in which
we are functioning. These with few
exceptions are modern in design and
functional in construction. We have
often quoted as an aphorism "Stone
walls do not a prison make," con-
versely, "Beautiful buildings of con-
temporary design do not an intellectual
center make."
Some teachers would doubtless say
that we have empty boats in the midst
of fishfull seas because their equipment
is insufficient. Language laboratories
are fine and I must not be guilty of
denouncing them. Tape recorders, the
cut away models of the human speech
organs and sundry devices are most in-
triguing. We have them all, but 50 to
75% of all our students enrolled in
Freshmen English failed. As of mid-
term 20 out of every 25 students en-
rolled in the College of Arts and
Sciences were delinquent in one or
more subjects. It is said that teachers
spend 90% of their time communi-
cating ideas or facts which can be done
equally as well by machines. I have
watched excellent demonstrations of
these, and I admit that they are chal-
lenging. We will not be able to hold
the line against them anymore than
the agrarian held the line against the
industrialist. We must realize though
that teaching at its best is a highly
personal venture. It must remain per-
sonal to the extent that it extends man
until man returns to himself. Machines
cannot restore confidence, recognize
individual differences, nor provide the
social interaction which is necessary for
maximum self development. The teach-
er remains an important element in the
learning process second only to the stu-
dent.
When I hear claims of buildings,
equipment, and changes which lie in
the purely material realm, I am re-
minded of the music teacher on the
North Side of Chicago whose studio
had no heat. It was most uncomfort-
able, yet he chose to leave it in that
state. When asked why, he replied,
Some people come here to receive les-
sons but they don't really want to learn
learn music. They want an excuse, so
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McDaniel, Vernon. The Texas Standard, Volume 37, Number 2, March-April 1963, periodical, March 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth193815/m1/4/: accessed May 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Prairie View A&M University.